


Maybe the Real Ghost Was the Friendships We Held Onto Along the Way

by ari_storm



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang loves his friends but jesus fucking christ, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Buzzfeed Unsolved Supernatural vibes, Detailed plot? Nah just a fun time, Gen, Pre-Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Suki expects payment for this, Toph uses they/them pronouns, but only for the whole ghost origin story, cult mentions btw, katara is so done, toph is agender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28269261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ari_storm/pseuds/ari_storm
Summary: The gaang joins a ghost hunt for a Halloween special on Sokka and Zuko's channel. Things go...relatively good so long as you're not Yue.Atla secret santa gift for clarvoyant on tumblr!
Kudos: 3





	Maybe the Real Ghost Was the Friendships We Held Onto Along the Way

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is a secret santa gift for clarvoyant on tumblr! Hope you're having a great day, and hope you enjoy reading as well! 💞

* * *

It's not as though Sokka and Zuko planned on dragging their friends out to a supposedly haunted house on Halloween, it just happened to align with everyone's lack of plans for the day. They ran their channel, the Blue Spirits(a name Sokka decided on, insisting it was because of his favorite color, but it was all too obvious to Zuko he just stole it from Zuko's unfortunate phase in middle school) for a couple of years at this point. 

"How about a different name?"

"It's an _ingenious_ channel name, thank you very much."

And despite their differences, they worked together without a cinch, though their subscriber count never seemed to pass 6k.

"Haunted house?" Aang had questioned when they had gathered their friends at Uncle Iroh's tea shop, and Toph perked up at these words.

"Are we gonna find demons or something? Wow, I'd love to see that," Their false interest was suddenly evident and Zuko found himself torn between amusement and annoyance.

"Haha, very funny. Now, are you guys coming with or not? This was supposed to be a fun special, don't worry too much about it. Oh, unless you're Katara, our trusty camerawoman!" Katara only flipped him off, clearly more focused on her reading than Sokka's attempt at bright words.

"It sounds interesting but, why do you guys need us? Aren't channel decisions run through your manager or something?" Suki asked, cursing lightly as the still-hot tea burned her tongue. 

"Yue said we're in the clear for this decision. Sokka begged, she just wanted a day off from it I think," Zuko replied, and Sokka muttered a complaint at the truth in the explanation.

"Well I'm in! I have to call Appa and Momo a sitter though, and will there be games along the way? Wait actually, how far is it? And are the ghosts, or ghost-" Aang rambled on, cut off only by Toph.

"If twinkle toes pauses long enough for an answer, I'll go too," They agreed, their words lighthearted despite the phrasing.

"I'm in because this seems like a good enough way to get you guys to owe me a visit on my channel," Suki agreed. "She ran a simple channel" would be a lie- she ran a self-defense channel. And both Sokka and Zuko were not exactly looking forward to returning that favor.

"So long as nobody dies I'll go too," Katara finally agreed.

And it should've gone smoothly from there. The camera equipment was packed, the car was gassed up, and no one's phone was dead. However, not even ten minutes into the drive, there was complaining. Suki had been designated the driver was the least likely out of all of them to get pissed off easily, but it seemed her technique was to pretend she didn't hear all the commotion. 

"Why didn't you bring your own snacks, Sokka? Aren't you two the ghost trip experts?" 

"Katara, those _are_ mine. See, my bag is blu- oh this is purple,"

"I can share my- wait no actually I promised Toph some." 

"Some? I already ate all the fried breakd. Can I have the cheese thing too?" 

And while it was funny at first to watch this bantering, Zuko quickly felt tired out by it. Suki gave him a sympathetic look which seemed to alert Sokka, who reluctantly let Katara have the snacks to lessen the yelling. It didn't do much as Aang and Toph went on to beg her to share- though Aang asked for anything but the sea prunes.

Needless to say, everyone was very happy to leave the stuffy car when they arrived. Suki vowed never to agree to something like this again as soon as they got the stuff out, even if they all knew she would be the first to join one of Sokka's crazy stunts. His influence is too undeniable. 

As the group faced their destination, they finally seemed to remember what they were here for. Although the sun hadn't quite set yet, the house in front of them was daunting; it was made of dark wood and had an ornate but worn garden path to get to its door. While Sokka and Zuko were among the first to start towards it, Katara unamusedly following with the camera, the others showed a reasonable reluctance. Even Toph, unable to see it, could feel the shift in the atmosphere around the others. They motioned for Suki to grab their white cane and once in hand, they caught up to Zuko. 

"Hey, what's the story behind this place anyway?" They asked. 

"Apparently-" He started.

"Wait! Katara, you're recording, right?" He asked, and she looked to the camera's functions for a moment before nodding. 

"Apparently, this place is haunted by a group of cultists and the couple who lived here," Zuko said, leaving the more detailed story for Sokka to flesh out. For someone who doubts the supernatural, he likes telling their stories. 

"Alright so, starting in 1905 Laura Hartley, wife of an esteemed businessman, Eldric Hartley, lived here. Not much is known about the couple themselves, but what _is_ known for sure is that this house was also a gathering place for a cultist group. The group was lead by none other than Lady Laura herself, unbeknownst to her husband!" Everyone found themselves drawn in, even Zuko who heard the story before.

"When her husband disappeared, everyone just assumed it was because he didn't want to deal with the consequences of his failed deal with another business firm. But 46 years later, a month after Laura's death, people went into the house to collect things from her will, and discovered her husband's skeletal remains in a locked up box in the basement, along with a ritual circle and many hints at the cult activity. No one's sure for how long or why Laura did this, but it was very clear that her husband missing was no longer a mystery. Ever since, lots of people came here and claimed they saw Laura or Eldric, and even some of the people in Laura's cult," Sokka finished, and Zuko vaguely wondered if that meant they'd actually catch proof of something. For once. It wasn't helping his case that they hadn't, yet somehow garnered a steady viewership.

One by one, the group headed into the house from the front door. While Sokka and Zuko had been shown around once in the daytime, it was very different as the setting sun cast long shadows over everything. 

"Okay, here we are, exploring the house of a cultist group, which my buddy Zuko is *sure* is haunted," Sokka narrated, an arm slung over his shoulder. 

"I hear the sarcasm in your voice every time we do this. It's not my fault you don't think the spirit box voices are enough proof," The other insisted, their playful banter making Katara roll her eyes.

"The only ghost I see right now is in the near future, and it's me to any of your texts asking me to be camerawoman again," She snickered, and Sokka stuck his tongue out at her. 

It wasn't long after before Zuko was setting up the spirit box, while Suki and Aang adjusted the motion sensor lights in a hallway that they'd prepared yesterday. 

"As you can see, local idiots fight over how a ghost walkie talkie box works," Katara narrated as the two finished setting it up.

"Katara, if there are ghosts, which there aren't, I sincerely hope you don't become one. That'd be annoying " Sokka shuddered, and Zuko seemed to be holding in laughter.

"Okay, they're all set up!" Aang called, and the group sat on a couch in the center of a living room.

"This is the room directly above the stairs to the basement where the group occupied. We're gonna try to talk to one of the ghosts now," Zuko said, and added, "This is loud, cover your ears for a second." 

Still a shock, Toph cursed loudly when it sounded. When everyone settled down, the real ghost shenanigans could start.

"Is anyone here with us?" Sokka asked first. There was no response other than the frequently changing static.

"Ghosts, I'll trade you my brother and Zuko if you come out now," Katara tried. Still, no response, and Zuko shot her a pout which she only smiled back at.

A short change in the static made Sokka jump, and Zuko listen more intentively. 

"Weren't you the one that didn't believe in ghosts?" Suki asked him as he settled down again.

"I don't! The sounds are just creepy!" Sokka insisted, much to the amusement of everyone in the room, all of whom were occasionally wondering how they'd gotten roped into this.

"Dammit, I don't think we'll hear much up here. Let's the basement," Zuko suggested, and without leaving much argument, was already stood up. 

The house was larger on the inside than the others had anticipated, causing a Toph to grumble about all the stairs.

"It's like you guys don't even love me, how could you invite me to a place _this_ big with stairs I can't see!" They protested, clinging on to Suki as the group started their descent into the basement. 

"I can't control how old-timey houses were built, but think about it, you get the rest of Aang's snacks when we're back in the car!" Sokka said cherrily. 

"Hey, wait a minute-!" Aang was cut off as Sokka and Zuko reached the basement. The two felt an equally oppressive air around them, and the realization sunk into the rest of the groups as they entered too. The edges of the room seemed a little _too_ shadowed and the center daunting, in an out in the open kind of way.

"Alright, so here we can see where a ritual circle was once drawn. It's mostly washed away now though," Without thinking, Zuko sat down in the center of it, causing an unnerved sigh from Sokka and a fit of giggles from Katara.

"If the ghosts were real they'd probably come to get you now," Sokka mentioned, an air of fondness in his gaze which was comedic in comparison to the focus in Zuko's as he set the spirit box back up. 

"I welcome them to try," He said simply, turning on the box. Sokka kept his distance from the circle, despite him not believing in ghosts, it was still creepy.

"Maybe get a quieter box next time you do this! And a different cameraperson," Katara muttered over the static frequency.

"Maybe I should mute all of their chats when they ask for a favor in the future. I'm sticking to buying candy for myself for Halloween next time," Suki thought aloud, and Katara nodded solemnly, though this wasn't heard by the two in question. 

"Okay ghosts- ghost? - any not alive being in here! Speak through the loud box so Zuko has something to insist he heard right," Sokka said loudly.

And before Zuko could say anything, something picked up through the frequencies on the spirit box. 

"Get..out.."

With that, Zuko smiled giddily and Sokka raised an eyebrow. Everyone else stared on in confusion, however, Toph found themself leaning in to hear more. Katara checked the camera was on again and decided the best way to ignore the weirdness was to pretend she was simply watching her weird friends through a screen.

"What's your name?" Zuko asked.

"..Lau..ra.."

"It said Laura! Sokka-"

"We are _not_ going to rely on an unintelligible sound as evidence," Sokka cut in.

"Unintelligible? That was _clearly_ the ghost saying her name is Laura," Zuko insisted.

"Sounded like Laura to me science boy," Katara joined in. 

"Katara, don't you dare-"

"Guys, let's not be hasty, you don't honestly believe in this ghost stuff?" Suki offered, and Aang looked taken aback.

"Ghosts are very real! And if this Laura is one, she kinda told us to get out so-"

"Three to two, it was a ghost voice," Zuko conceded, sitting up from the circle. 

"Okay then, Laura, or whatever radio glitches everyone keeps hearing, show us a sign if you want us to leave!" Sokka asked, seemingly frightened by his own words as well, even though Zuko nodded eagerly at that idea.

A loud crash and a gasp from Katara suddenly echoed through the room. Everyone turned to see the woman staring in confusion at the camera she had just been holding, which was now on the ground, the lens with several fractures in it. 

"It just slipped from my fingers...weird," She mumbled, crossing her arms in upset.

"Not weird, a ghost. That's a sign!" Zuko pointed out, and Sokka only rolled his eyes playfully.

"Nah, anyone could've dropped it, we've been recording for a while. And Katara's clumsier than she seems," Sokka brushed it off, much to the annoyance of both Katara and Zuko.

"Hey but if that was a sign, it's a sign we should get out, so I'm heading back now. Great Halloween special you guys!" Aang said in a perky tone, all too happy to leave the dark atmosphere of this room. 

"Aww, leaving already? But we didn't find a ghost," Toph complained aloud as they followed Suki upstairs.

"This place is creepy even without ghosts, let's head out," Suki noted.

Katara followed them, and Sokka made his way to do so as well. Already on the stairs, he paused when he saw Zuko carefully plucking through the remains of the mangled looking camera.

"We can buy another y'know?" 

"Yeah, but we need the SD card from this one," Zuko reminded him. 

And for an instant, as Zuko was in an area where he saw a corner of the basement that Sokka didn't currently, he saw a ghostly luminescent figure staring at him. She was wearing a billowy dress and her gloves were stained with something he suspected to be blood. But as he blinked and opened his mouth to say something, she was gone.

"You're not gonna believe what I'm about to tell you," Zuko said as he found the SD card and started towards Sokka. He found his gaze constantly glancing back to the corner. 

"Considering tonight, probably not. Unless it's that you're hopelessly in love with me, as many have fallen!" Sokka said dramatically, and Zuko only nudged him with a flush creeping up his face.

"One person. And Suki got over that quick," Zuko said, though didn't deny anything else, "And I swear, I just saw a ghost." 

"Idiots, hurry up to the car, we're sleepy here!" They heard Toph call from up ahead.

And even though the Halloween special for their channel was less than awe-inspiring, it was a night that was overall enjoyable for most involved. Except for Yue, who was quickly notified about a need for yet another replacement camera, and promptly reconsidered her career choices.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!! Stay safe and happy holidays! ✨💕


End file.
